Maiden Of The Splitting Moon

0Before he could even react, he felt something on his neck. He peeked down, finding Blood Moon pressed gently against his neck like Death's scythe.      2

"All it will take to kill you is this. If you want to live, swear that you will never reveal my presence to others. If you do, I will hunt you down and slaughter everyone. Do not look for me, do not find me, and I will not come for you."     

Ming Yue's voice came out cold and monotone, giving a clear warning to Ruishi Lei. But the lion-kin gave her a response she wasn't expecting.      

"It's impossible, even if I don't reveal your existence, we will run into you regardless", he said.      

Hearing that, she looked at him.      

"What? What do you mean by this? What exactly is going on?" she asked him.     

Ruishi Lei kept his cool, slowly turning his head to look at her. Going face to face, their eyes met for a few moments.      

"The Devouring Goose and a horde of Savage Beasts had come for us months ago but we defeated it after a close battle. We consumed the Goose's flesh, rebuilt our homes, and sought this as a chance", he said.      

"A chance for what?"      

Ming Yue's eyes were cold and piercing, enough to show that one wrong move spelled the end for him. His eyes showed a trace of shock as he got a better look at her.     

"A human?" he thought, "I thought they no longer existed on the Beast Continent. Unless she had recently come here?!"     

Despite the realization, Ruishi Lei's only move was to continue speaking.      

"It's a chance to reclaim what we had lost to the Savage Lands and to reconnect with the other continents. We have already begun to expand and it will only be a short amount of time before we run into you. When that comes, you will most certainly be a part of the struggle."     

She looked at him, trying to see if what the lion-kin had said was the truth. Despite the situation he was in, his eyes did not waver.      

But Ming Yue wasn't done with her questioning.      

"What do you plan to do once you reconnect? What sort of struggle are you talking about?" she asked him.      

She had to find out about this. After all, the young woman did not want a repeat of the war in the Demon Continent.      

"I have to prevent another war from breaking out", she thought.      

"I'm not sure. Some clans wish to forge an alliance while other clans... would like the invade. This is also related to that struggle. The many tribes banded together to survive against the dangers of the Savage Lands. Now that that very danger is slowly vanishing, they are looking towards each other now. They may fight for territory and that fight will extend to where you are in the North."     

He explained, looking at her for any sort of reaction. However, there was no reaction from her as Ming Yue slowly ingested that information.      

"We might have to leave again but... how would the others feel? How you'd Hongyu feel?" she thought to herself.      

And while deep in thought, Ruishi Lei said one other thing.      

"You know, the Devouring Goose and the beast horde, they came from the North. Something spooked them, something in the skies spooked them and caused them all to come charging into our homes. Was that you?"      

"Something... spooked them?"     

Thinking to herself, there could only be one event that happened during that time.      

"When I stabbed the Black Blade into the formation and then my breakthrough... Rather than attract attention, it must've scared them off instead. And that led to all of this", she realized.     

She looked back at him, pressing her sword on his neck just a bit harder.      

"How long till they reach the North?" she asked him.      

Ruishi Lei shook his head.      

"I don't know. I really don't. Everyone is more focused on the teleportation arrays, it can't be activated because we don't have the key for it", he explained.      

"Key? What sort of key?"     

"The arrays are missing a piece, that piece is a circular stone slab."     

"A circular stone slab?"     

"Yes, there are four of them! We are already searching the ruins that may contain them, they originate from the Order of the Astra Sword."     

Ruishi Lei continued to speak, giving her bits of information. Certainly not everything but parts that he thought she would react to.      

"Does she know of them? Is she related?" he wondered inwardly.      

Just as Ming Yue was gathering information, so was he. However, this little exchange didn't last long.      

The young woman turned around, looking far into the distance.      

"People are coming..."     

She turned back to Ruishi Lei and pulled her sword away from his neck.      

"Do not reveal my existence. If you think that this was mercy, it is not. Killing you would invite far more trouble than I'd like. However, push me and this sword will be the last thing you see."     

Giving one final warning, her body vanished from his sight.      

And moments later, multiple figures appeared before him, all of them standing at him with a strange look. They were all members of the Reclamation Division.      

"What the hell are you doing here? So far away from the fight?"     

"Yeah, I thought you'd be punching through the Earthbound Tortoise's body right now."     

They looked at him crossing their arms before narrowing their eyes. Giving him a closer look, they noticed a few things.      

"What kind of wounds are these?" one of them asked.     

Ruishi Lei just dusted his clothes and straightened up, looking back at them with a more dignified look.      

"It's nothing, what are you all doing here? I thought you'd be helping out."     

 One of them scoffed before answering.      

"Ao Qin sent us to look for you, besides not much time has passed. This Earthbound Tortoise isn't dead yet but it's weakened."     

"I don't know what that thing from the skies was but we would've had to retreat. Our losses here would've been much worse. Maybe the Heavens really are helping us, if they truly exist."     

They all chuckled except for the White Lion who was still caught up in Ming Yue's sudden appearance. Noticing his state, the others gazed at him once more.      

"Are you sure nothing happened here? Did you run into something?"     

"A beast perhaps?"     

They looked at each other before going back to Ruishi Lei, who was silent.      

"Were you going after whatever created that attack? It wasn't the Heavens was it?"     

The White Lion was silent and they took it as a "yes".     

"Could it have been another Beast God? But why would it help us?"     

"Maybe it was afraid of our growing power? It didn't want to become a target?"     

"No, that can't be. What kind of Beast God can even produce an attack like that?"     

"It might be one that we've never known about, a new one perhaps."     

They talked and conversed with one another, trying to come to some sort of conclusion until Ruishi Lei stopped them. Walking forward, they turned their attention towards him as he shook his head.      

"It's none of that. It's nothing. I thought that I had found something but I didn't", he said.      

He then walked past them, heading back for the Earthbound Tortoise. They all stared at him, knowing that he was hiding something.      

"Tell us, what did you find? You can't just keep this to yourself."     

"Yeah! Tell us!"     

"Don't try to hog the glory for yourself!"      

There weren't many of them, about five or six members of the Reclamation Division were there. Ruishi Lei thought to himself.      

"Could she really kill us all?" he thought.      

After a few moments, Ruishi Lei made up his mind and opened his mouth to speak.